


Worlds Apart (Searching For You)

by amethyst-noir (Arbonne)



Series: Prompt Collection [31]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cloak of Levitation (Marvel), Established Relationship, Falling asleep in each other's arms, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Stephen Strange, M/M, More comfort than hurt, Short & Sweet, Some Humor, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Takes Care of Stephen, it's time to make a tag out of it, only gets a short mention, sorry about that, with a little bit of snark and banter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 20:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17453456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arbonne/pseuds/amethyst-noir
Summary: "Tell your door to let me in," Tony said after a moment of silence. "You sound exhausted and I don't want you traipsing around that death-trap of yours. Just wait for me, it'll only take me a few minutes."(Stephen's hurt and alone and he's fine with that. Tony isn't.)





	Worlds Apart (Searching For You)

**Author's Note:**

> I got the sweetest Anon ask ever:  
>  _Stephen has a soft, fragile heart, but he is very good at hiding it, and even better at guarding it. (not sure if this is just a thought, a headcannon, or a prompt, but I couldn't resist)_
> 
> Well, I couldn't resist, either, and this is the result. 😀 Just a couple of thousand words of Tony taking care of a hurt Stephen including fluffy fluff - this is what we all want, after all. And yes, I let them fall asleep in each other's arms once again. Why change a running system? They both need rest and this way they get it. 
> 
> Title/Soundtrack: _Worlds Apart (Searching For You)_ by Blue Stone

"Hey, Stephen! What are you doing tonight?"

Tony's cheerful tone grated on his nerves and he snapped back without thinking. "Bathing in the blood of my vanquished foes, if you must know."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line that lasted just long enough for Stephen to replay Tony's words in his mind. _Fuck._ He closed his eyes and bit his lip, unsure how to proceed. "Tony," he started but was immediately drowned out.

"Sounds exciting. Do you need some help with that? Acquiring the liquid, filling the bath, assisting the Sorcerer Supreme out of his ceremonial robes and into the fragrant bath of choice? You can tell me, I can be there in about ten minutes to be your own personal bath slave. No torture or coercion required."

 _That_ startled a laugh out of him. "Okay, okay, you win," he finally said. "And thanks for the nice image. I'll cherish it forever. You as a bath slave, I mean, not the… rest." He shuddered. He knew where his words had come from and he preferred not to think about it. Ever again.

Tony's forced cheerful tone became concerned and his voice got deeper as always when he let go of his snarky façade. "Seriously, Stephen, what are your plans for today?"

He pressed the phone tighter to his left ear as if he could overcome the distance between them by that gesture alone. "A little bit of reading, maybe a few hours of meditation," he finally answered. He had at least to _try_ to shove the last few days into the deepest pit his mind could produce.

"Do you want company?"

"A bath wasn't on my agenda, Tony." He'd already cleaned himself with magic and that had to do it for today.

A quiet laugh and he could _feel_ Tony's amusement. "I'm sorry to hear that. And here I was, looking forward to be your own personal… assistant." From one sentence to the next he got serious again. "I can hear in your voice that something's wrong and I missed you those last few days. I know, I know, we said to keep it casual and see where this is going, and I swear this is me trying not to be clingy but…"

For a moment Stephen played with the idea of saying no. The mere thought, however, was enough to make him shake even more and he felt sick to this stomach. He wanted company, he suddenly realized. He wanted this particular company. He let himself fall onto the couch and gave in to both their wishes with a soft sigh and a smile. "Yes, come over. Fuck casual. I've missed you, too." _I want nothing more than your company, your smile and your arms to hold me together. Just for a moment. Until I can pick myself up again._

"Tell your door to let me in," Tony said after a moment of silence. "You sound exhausted and I don't want you traipsing around that death-trap of yours. Just wait for me, it'll only take me a few minutes."

It seemed that Tony took 'fuck casual' literally and decided to throw any pretense of casual and not-getting-too-involved overboard after the merest hint that his attention might be welcome. _Another misjudgment on my part_ , Stephen realized. He'd made a lot of those over the last few weeks and it was starting to worry him. "It was a long day," he finally confessed. He let the death-trap comment got for the moment. "I was half tempted to come over to you instead of going home."

Another silence. Then: "Why didn't you? I've made it more than clear that you're welcome here anytime." The sheer _longing_ in Tony's voice was hard to listen to and it echoed in Stephen's heart. Why hadn't he, indeed? _Because I'm an idiot_ , he diagnosed himself. _And blind and stupid and… not deserving of this. Of him._ But he didn't know how to put the tangled mess of emotions and half-formed thoughts into words and so he didn't have an answer. At least not one he was prepared to speak out loud.

"The door will open for you," he said instead and winced when the necessary gesture hurt his hand from his wrist to the tips of his fingers. "I'm in the living room. Since I'm apparently not allowed to move around my own home you can play babysitter and watch me wander from room to room." The moment was over and the comment about the Sanctum _had_ stung.

"Yeah, sorry about that." This time, the voice came not only through the speaker but also from the door. Stephen was so tired that he hadn't even noticed the new presence in the house. _Stupid._ And dangerous. Tony came in and smiled sheepishly. "I might have left the tower the moment the call connected and I heard your voice." His smile vanished the moment he got a good look at Stephen. "What the hell happened to you?" The phone vanished and Tony almost ran over to him. "Stephen? Baby?" As always, the nickname produced a shiver down his back but other than that he only looked up at Tony in total confusion. The phone fell from his hand on the sofa and was forgotten a heartbeat later.

"Tony?"

A sigh and Tony's fingers gently began to trace his right cheek. "Have you looked into the mirror lately?" Stephen shook his head. He had no desire to see his face right now, thank you very much. "Doesn't it hurt?"

"Does what hurt?"

"Oh, Stephen." Tony sat down beside him and carefully moved his head to better look at Stephen's face. "That has to be disinfected. Why didn't you tell me that you're hurt? Are you hiding any other injuries under those miles of fabric you call clothes?"

Oh, the cut. He'd totally forgotten about that. Now, that Tony had mentioned it, it stung and he could suddenly taste blood. "I…," he started but Tony stopped him with a finger to his lips.

"Shh. Let's get you to the bathroom. You might not have noticed but you're still bleeding. Don't speak, it might aggravate it even more."

Stephen arched an eyebrow, just as he'd learned from Mister Spock back in the day, and hoped that his face was at least as expressive in conveying his misgivings. _Who's the doctor here?_ he wanted to ask but one look at Tony's pale face and wide, shocked eyes kept his mouth shut.

 _Let me take care of you_ , those expressive eyes seemed to beg of him and Stephen gave in with a short nod and an internal sigh.

 _That's it_ , he realized during the short trek from the living room to the bathroom. _I've let him in and now he's never going to leave._ The thought - which had been haunting him for a while now - suddenly didn't seem as scary as before. Just the opposite, Tony's hold around his waist and the worried looks he shot Stephen made him feel safe and protected. It was new and kind of exhilarating.

"Let's take it slow," Tony muttered as he guided Stephen to sit on the edge of the tub and went for the first aid kit. It spoke volumes that he didn't even need to ask where it was, despite not having been here very often. "Let's see where everything takes us. We're both grown men, used to our independence…"

Stephen winced, not only at having his own words thrown back at him, but at the pain of the disinfectant Tony used to clean the cut on his cheek. It was pride and maybe even a little bit of masochism that made him stock up the stuff that burned like hell. _If you feel it you know it works_ , his mother had told him when he'd been a child and despite everything the words and the sentiment behind them had survived until today.

"Sorry," Tony muttered as Stephen flinched once again. "I wish…" He didn't say what he wished for but concentrated on putting a butterfly bandage over the cut. "It's not too deep, I don't think it's going to scar too badly." He pressed a light kiss against Stephen's forehead. "Your beauty remains."

Stephen snorted. 'Beautiful' wasn't a word he'd ever associated with himself but Tony used it more and more often as their relationship grew deeper. _Love makes blind_ , he wanted to joke but the words hadn't ever been said before between them. It wouldn't be right to use them in this context.

Tony carefully cleaned the rest of the blood away before the allowed Stephen to stand up. "You're not hurt anywhere else?" he asked again and Stephen shook his head. He regretted it immediately when the dizziness hit. Automatically he tried to grab on to something, only wo wince once again when he banged his already hurting fingers against the edge of the tub.

Suddenly Tony was here, cradling his hand and gently guiding him to sit down again. "Stephen?"

"Just a few bruises," he finally said. Talking was suddenly hard and the pain worse than before. "I got thrown into a wall at considerable speed. I cut my cheek on a stone."

"Another specialty of you I'm not a fan of." Tony's fingers carefully moved over his face, then through his hair and to the back of his head. Checking for bumps, Stephen guessed, but the gentle touch was welcome and so he closed his eyes and surrendered gracefully to it.

*

Stephen looked peaceful like this. With his eyes closed and obviously enjoying Tony's touches one could almost be tempted to ignore everything else and just continue petting him.

Tony indulged them both for a few minutes before he took Stephen by the shoulders and shook him gently. "Wake up, darling, time to go to bed." 

Stephen blinked a couple of times and smiled sleepily up at Tony whose heart melted at the sight. Stephen was _adorable_ like this and Tony couldn't get enough of the softer side of his lover, hidden behind a wall of snark and detachment. He smiled back and carefully pulled Stephen on his feet.

"Your head seems to be okay," he said finally. "Or at least what counts as okay with you. Since you're dead on your feet I suggest an early bedtime today."

Predictably, Stephen took a breath to protest but Tony cut him off by kissing him. The taste of blood wasn't the greatest but the moment, when Stephen surrendered to the inevitable and kissed him back, was. Tony stroked over his face, once again. "Bed," he repeated quietly. "But brush your teeth first. You'll thank me in the morning." He knew that it would be an exercise in frustration and ultimately useless to try to get Stephen to eat right now. _Tomorrow morning_ , Tony promised himself. _I'll get some food into him then._ He could and would work with all the dirty tactics he'd learned over the last few weeks. He'd never expected to end up as the responsible one in any relationship of his but here he was, trying to get his lover to eat and to sleep at regular intervals. _Am I getting old or is he really so much worse than even me?_ , he asked himself. Not for the first time. He still hadn't found an answer.

"It's barley eight in the evening. You don't go to bed before one at the earliest." Stephen tried to reason but his eyes were already closing again. _Adorable_ , Tony thought once again and only barley managed to repress the urge to press a kiss onto the tip of Stephen's nose. _Later_ , he promised himself. After a moment Stephen forced himself upright and went over to the sink and the toothbrush.

"I do, when I have a reason to do it. Taking care of you is the best one I can think of."

Silence.

"Sorry," Stephen finally whispered after he'd finished. He looked straight at the mirror in front of him and managed to not look at Tony who was standing a couple of steps behind him. "I know that's not what you signed up for…"

 _Actually it is._ But Tony wasn't crazy enough to say that out loud. He'd signed up for this the moment he decided to throw caution into the wind and upgraded his casual flirting to the real thing. He _wanted_ to be there for Stephen. "Stop," he said instead and came up behind Stephen. He rested his hands on Stephen's hips; a gesture he'd employed rather often in the last few weeks and something that Stephen seemed to enjoy. Stephen enjoyed being held in general, Tony had discovered to his great pleasure. "We'll talk about it later. Rest first, you're done for today, my dear." He carefully turned Stephen around to march him out of the bathroom. 

"What's with the nicknames today?" Stephen murmured but he followed Tony's gentle but insistent lead to the bedroom. "Baby, darling, my dear, what comes next? Honey?" They were in Stephen's bedroom by now and nearly by the bed.

Honey had been Tony's nickname for Pepper but Stephen didn't know that. He swallowed against the sudden lump in his throat and hoped that he managed to cover his shock of being reminded of her. He didn't really think about his answer, just wanted his thoughts back on Stephen.

"Actually I thought that I'd start to recycle but if you have any suggestions I'm all ears."

"I like it."

"Which one?" 

"All of them. You. You calling me stupid nicknames." Stephen was fading, fast, and was already curled up on his left side as if waiting for Tony to slip behind him and hold him once again.

Tony grinned at the adorable picture and the Cloak gave him an enthusiastic nod. The fact that tall, self-assured, protective Stephen Strange liked to be the little spoon was something that would delight Tony forever. They just _fit_ together like this and in his more romantic, tender moments Tony even dared to think and hope that Stephen just might be the other half of his soul; the one he'd always been searching for, secure in the knowledge that he would never find that one person. For a while he'd thought that he'd found them with Pepper but that had imploded, just like everytime before. But when he'd met Stephen and seen the man behind the sarcastic shell… 

_Finally_ , it seemed that Stephen was allowing himself to feel the same. Tony had been not very patiently waiting for the moment to be invited not only over the last wall around Stephen's heart but into it. He'd dropped less and less subtle hints and just hoped that one day Stephen was in the right state of mind to reciprocate Tony's feelings. 

Tony had known after their first time together that Stephen was _it_. His. Whatever. The way Stephen had curled up in his arms afterwards and just dropped off into a light slumber had been so telling but Tony hadn't been surprised when Stephen had fled the next morning with a paper-thin excuse. They hadn't seen each other for two weeks until Tony finally managed to track him down. The reunion-sex had been spectacular, Stephen had cuddled up to him once again and the next morning he'd been gone through a portal with barely a word and no eye-contact. There had been a lot of baby-steps since then and a lot of deep breathing and praying for strength and patience on Tony's side.

Tony still didn't know what horrors lurked in Stephen's past to make him so afraid of emotional intimacy but he had promised himself not to push and wait for Stephen to come to him of his own free will and in his own time. He could learn from the errors of his past, he really could, and Stephen was worth it, he'd told himself over and over again.

That hadn't made the wait any easier.

"Tony? Stop staring and come here," Stephen demanded when he took too long in getting off his casual clothes.

"Whatever Your Highness requests." It took some maneuvering but finally they found a comfortable position accommodating their various needs - Stephen's hands and neck and Tony's shoulder and chest. Tony checked Stephen's cheek once again but the bandage seemed to be holding and it didn't bleed anymore. _You're beautiful_ , he thought while tracing Stephen's face once again.

"This is nice," Stephen murmured after a few minutes of quiet togetherness. "We should do it more often. The cuddling, not the bleeding."

Tony swallowed, suddenly overcome with sheer love for this man. "Yes," he agreed after a moment. "We should." As much as he loved the sex this was even better. _I'm getting old._

Stephen pressed his back a little bit harder against Tony's chest but not hard enough to hurt him. "I'm sorry for making you wait. It's just…"

"Shhh," Tony carefully put an arm around Stephen's waist and searched for one of Stephen's hands. He got his right one and let Stephen carefully entwine their fingers, too scared of hurting him otherwise. "Don't. You're here, I'm here, it's okay. In our own time." 

Stephen fell asleep with a whispered "thank you" while Tony tried to quiet his mind enough to follow him. _Maybe I'll take him up on those offers to teach me meditation_ , he thought before he finally succumbed himself.

**Author's Note:**

> [Original ask.](https://amethyst-noir.tumblr.com/post/182091628281/worlds-apart) 💞


End file.
